Murder Story of Torgovitsa Jews in a Clay Pit in the Podvysokoye Area

The shooting of the Jewish population in Torgovitsa village was carried out in February 1942. [...] I did not see the shooting of the Jewish population. The policemen from Torgovitsa village [...] took the Jews to be shot. Among the Jews of Torgovitsa [the following] people [some of] whose last names I do not know but whose first names I know: Avrum Zitselman [in this case Makogon knew his last name], Motya, Tolya the barber, Berko, Gershko, and others, were shot. A total of as many as 150 people from Torgovitsa village were shot to death.

The shooting of the Jewish population was carried out in February 1942 outside of the village, along the road to Podvysokoye, in a clay pit 30-40 meters from the village. I did not see the shooting of the Jews since no one was allowed to go there but I did see them being taken to be shot by the police. The policemen numbered about 30. …There is no doubt that the whole police force from Torgovitsa participated in the shooting of the Jewish population. I heard the shots but I did not see the shooting.

The bodies of a group of Jews who had been brutally tortured to death by the German Fascist occupiers in February 1942 were exhumed. The following was found: The bodies are located in three pits. In the first pit ….there are 86. In the second one - 25, and in the third one - 21. Altogether 132 people - men, women, and children - were shot in Torgovitsa village.